Pearl Hill State Park

Pearl Hill State Park, located near the northern border of Massachusetts and a mere 50 miles away from Boston, is a gemstone of a park with plenty of hiking and camping opportunities.

Hiking

Hiking through the 1,000 acres of Pearl Hill State Park is like walking backwards in time before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock; the primeval pine forests are practically untouched, making you feel one with the wilderness that once stretched from Nova Scotia to the Florida Keys. For those interested in a more difficult hike, a recently completed trail connects Pearl Hill to Willard Brook State Forest, another state park nearby.

Camping

Pearl Hill includes 51 prepared camp sites with modern bathrooms nearby, sheltered beneath the protective boughs of the pines above. The trees help make each campsite truly private, a welcome change from parks that merely plop the campsites next to each other without care for privacy. The nearby Willard Brook park also has campsites, making a multi-day hiking and camping trip interesting.

Swimming and fishing

The Park Hill Brook is dammed seasonally to make the pond well-suited for swimming, with a prepared beach and day use area nearby just perfect for picnicking. The streams across Pearl Hill also offer opportunities for swimming as well as fishing; you may not catch much but that is hardly the point of fishing sometimes!

Though it is only open from Memorial Day to Labor Day, Pearl Hill State Park is a wonderful, quiet park that makes a welcome change of pace from the hectic Boston lifestyle.